Primary Sources

No Conspiracy Here

A number of reporters that I know have been deluged with emails demanding that they investigate and expose alleged voter fraud from the past presidential election, particularly in areas where votes for Bush exceeded the number of registered Republicans. Among the places ripe for such examinations, we’re told, some Florida counties where Democrats hold a large margin in voter registration. This week the Miami Herald took up the task of re-counting optically scanned ballots in three rural Florida counties where Democrats outnumber Republicans. The result is no shock, at least to me:

Picking three counties that fit the conspiracy theory profile — staunchly Democratic by registration, whoppingly GOP by voting — two reporters counted more than 17,000 ballots over three days.

The conclusion: No conspiracy.

The newspaper’s count of optical scan ballots in Suwannee, Lafayette and Union counties showed Bush whipping Sen. John Kerry in a swath of Florida where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1.

The newspaper found minor differences with the official results in each county, most involving a smattering of ballots that had been discarded as unreadable by optical scan machines but in which reporters felt the voter intent was clear.

Voting practices should be examined by newspapers with an eye toward ensuring transparency and accuracy. But the idea that rural, conservative Democrats, particularly in the South but elsewhere, simply couldn’t have voted for Bush in large numbers is demonstrably false.